The measurement of fluid flow has been an important function in many applications, and for many years. As such, numerous types of fluid flow sensing units have been developed. Typically, these units are rather large and the units are individually designed for a particular application.
In very recent years miniature electronic types of flow sensors have been developed. These flow sensors are very sensitive and are exceedingly small. These types of sensors can be manufactured by processes comparable to the manufacture of integrated circuits. This allows for the very small size, and the mass production of very inexpensive sensor elements. These units typically have been used in customized condition responsive sensors, or flow sensing applications, where each sensor structure was individually manufactured for a particular flow sensing application. While the flow sensor elements themselves have become relatively cheap, uniform, and small, their application has been rather cumbersome.